Health and Fitness

Lifeguarding: Old Guard

Grandma?s come a long way from donning an apron
and baking cookies or sitting in her rocking chair while
knitting a sweater. Today, she?s traded the apron
for a swimsuit, the rocking chair for a lifeguard seat. And
she?s definitely fit, quick-thinking, disciplinary
and in charge.

Meet the new, er, old generation of guards. Though
lifeguarding grandmas and grandpas aren?t expecting
to become the next Pamela Andersons or David Hasselhofs,
they could help remedy many facilities? staff
shortages. And as baby boomers retire and look for new
opportunities, a number are finding their calling at local
pools.

?If you?re a retiree and not looking at
the bottom-line paycheck but for an opportunity to make a
difference and get that sense of reward, [being a
lifeguard] has a real appeal,? said Sherri Olson
Roberts, health and safety services director of the
Washtenaw County Red Cross in Michigan.

This Red Cross chapter began targeting seniors when it
started losing teen candidates to fast-food restaurants and
clothing retail. Through information on the senior section
of its Web site, the chapter was able to attract a handful
of prospects. Some had once worked in aquatics and still
had their lifeguarding certificates. The chapter also
targeted others who were athletic and capable of saving
lives.

Chris Fennell likes to hire older guards for a number of
reasons. ?They show up on time,? said the
operations manager of Jeff Ellis Management, who is
contracted to work with the Vaughan Athletic Center in
Aurora, Ill. In addition, seniors are easier to schedule
than students, who have to deal with school and college
classes.

Jeff Ellis Management offers a senior lifeguard program
besides its regular and junior lifeguard classes. The
senior lifeguard position is for people ages 55 and older,
allowing them to train with others their own age.

Fennell, who has hired stay-at-home mothers as well as
retirees, said his older guards get along very well with
the younger guards. The youths look up to them, and the
older ones feel rejuvenated doing the job they once held in
high school or college.

?It brings a lot of people together while doing
the same thing,? he said. ?A lot of the
younger lifeguards have learned to respect the
retirees.?

In return, the older guards are ?pretty active
people who are excited because it brings them back to their
youth, working with kids,? Fennell said.

Older guards enjoy the other perks associated with the
job: a fun environment, access to a pool, extra cash and,
in some cases, free membership to the fitness center. They
often befriend and even recruit senior lap swimmers to be
lifeguards as well.

Aside from being mature, wiser and full of life
experiences, older guards possess another quality that
their teen counterparts lack: They?re morning
people.

?We open at 5:30 a.m., and it?s hard to
get college kids to get up at that time,? said
Sarah Murray, aquatics and fitness director at the
Albemarle Family YMCA in Elizabeth City, N.C. She relies on
a 65-year-old female guard to open the pool every
morning.

?Age is not a factor,? said Murray, who
only wanted to know if the guard could perform the skills
required for the job. ?But [older guards] bring a
different level of maturity to the position that you wish
so many more would emulate.?